Afterschool Data: Tip Sheets on What Cities Need to Know

A new set of free data tip sheets from The Wallace Foundation shows the ways that data can assist in everything from determining where programs are needed to how to make them better. Designed for city agencies, afterschool program providers, intermediary organizations, and parents; these guides zero in on data use for four tasks key to more effective afterschool: evaluating program quality, ensuring programs are accountable to funders, mapping program supply and demand, and supporting advocacy.

Students give auto industry a run for their money!

A group of students from the Sustainability Workshop School in Philadelphia, PA participated in theProgressive Automotive X Prize to build a car that could get 100 miles per gallon. Comprised of high school students from Philadelphia’s inner city, the West Philly Hybrid X Team collaborated with a team of faculty members and paid helpers, working with a budget of nearly $500,000 comprised of grants and contributions. Their competition included companies, universities and inventors with corporate sponsorships. Check out the CNN video to learn more about their experience.

Women are still Under-Represented in STEM

Emma Judge

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 January 2013

The UK Resource Centre reveals that only 5.3%, or one in twenty, of all working women are employed in any science, engineering and technology occupations compared to 31.3%, or one in three, of men. Other countries, such as China, have a much more balanced gender mix of Stem professionals in the workforce. So why are our figures in the UK so low?

Designing Engineering Toys for Girls

Debbie Sterling Lewis, an engineer herself, noticed that companies were trying to make stereotypical toys for boys (LEGOS, Lincoln Logs) appealing to girls by adding pinks and purples to the packaging. Knowing that girls lose interest in engineering subjects by age 8, she set out to go one step further. Recognizing that girls are more verbal she set out to create a toy that combines a story and a toy that involves constructing different things based on the storyline. Out of this was born GoldieBlox. She did a grass roots approach to funding, creating this YouTube video to demonstrate her product and ask folks to place orders so that she could move forward with production.

Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS)

Molding the next generation of computer scientists

By Flora Zhang, CNN

Kevin Wang always had the teaching bug in him.

After graduating from UC-Berkeley in 2002 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, he turned down industry jobs to teach in the Bay Area. A few years later he got a masters degree in education from Harvard and then went to Microsoft to work as a software developer.

But he couldn't stop teaching.

Before he arrived at the office every morning, Wang drove to a nearby high school and taught first-period computer science. He told colleagues and friends about his experience and recruited them to teach in local schools.